A news alert sent out under Brian Feeney's name earlier this evening (they're postponing their flights indefinitely):

Canadian Team Revises its Planned Flight to Space

TORONTO September 23, 2004: –The Golden Palace.com Space Program Powered by the da Vinci Project announced that it has revised its October 2nd planned flight to space in pursuit of the Ansari X PRIZE.

Contributing factors to this revision were availability of a few key components and their integration into the overall space flight program. The Project will provide public notice of its intended flights as soon as practicable under the auspices of the Ansari X PRIZE, notwithstanding the flight plans of any other competitor.

“The flight insurance for the 2 launches has been secured”, says Brian Feeney, Project Leader. “We’re still a go for launch. We’ve made milestone progress since the early August arrival of our title sponsor, Golden Palace.com and we intend to prove that Canadians can and will put a man into space”.

Ekkehard, the news was sent out in an email to reporters who have been covering da Vinci. Although there's not a press release on the da Vinci site, note that the project's "launch clock" is stopped with a note saying that it is on hold. As soon as I can get a story posted myself on Wired News or see one posted elsewhere, I'll try to put the URL up here.

I'm not surprised with the news but rather with the way they explained the "delay". I'm really frustraited. Not that I was believing in their propaganda, not at all. But it was pretty exciting to see how they will manage the growing impression that they are going for real launch as soon as time is ticking towards the date. In this essence the way they are trying to handle the situation is just not enough to make it believable. I'm curious, when did they figure out that they are missing the "key components"? Certainly within last two days, because on Sep. 22 they were telling the world they are OK: http://www.xprizenews.org/index.php?p=501Was it like "oops... we forgot we should have an engine" ?
Well, I thought they would try harder and be more inventive to make it look at least a little bit justified...

I'm not surprised with the news but rather with the way they explained the "delay". I'm really frustraited. Not that I was believing in their propaganda, not at all. But it was pretty exciting to see how they will manage the growing impression that they are going for real launch as soon as time is ticking towards the date. In this essence the way they are trying to handle the situation is just not enough to make it believable. I'm curious, when did they figure out that they are missing the "key components"? Certainly within last two days, because on Sep. 22 they were telling the world they are OK: http://www.xprizenews.org/index.php?p=501Was it like "oops... we forgot we should have an engine" ?Well, I thought they would try harder and be more inventive to make it look at least a little bit justified...

Stranger, you seem to be confusing Jeanette Halpenny at the Cape Kindersley mall office with official da Vinci propaganda. Suggest you follow Dan Brekke in Wired and Alan Boyle at MSNBC for best information on da Vinci's status.

Stranger, you seem to be confusing Jeanette Halpenny at the Cape Kindersley mall office with official da Vinci propaganda. Suggest you follow Dan Brekke in Wired and Alan Boyle at MSNBC for best information on da Vinci's status.

As a matter of fact, not at all. When I was talking about propaganda, I did not mean just this info from Kindersly, but was regarding to all the hype generated to make everyone believe that they will launch on Oct 2. I do follow all the information about da Vinci, including these articles and the team's website. On the other hand, I seriously doubt that Jeanette Halpenny is disconnected from the da Vinci. If she is involved in pre-launch preparations such as selling the tickets to specific date, she should have the information on the first hand. My point is that if she was saying what she was saying, the da Vinci team would approve it at that time.

It might be for the best. If Scaled/Mojave wins the prize, ad short of something bad happening they will now. then DeVinci can slow down and get some kind of business plan together, and do some incremental testing.

Still, we might have a two launch week. STC looks to be doing a Rubicon test again.

As a matter of fact, not at all. When I was talking about propaganda, I did not mean just this info from Kindersly, but was regarding to all the hype generated to make everyone believe that they will launch on Oct 2. I do follow all the information about da Vinci, including these articles and the team's website. On the other hand, I seriously doubt that Jeanette Halpenny is disconnected from the da Vinci. If she is involved in pre-launch preparations such as selling the tickets to specific date, she should have the information on the first hand. My point is that if she was saying what she was saying, the da Vinci team would approve it at that time.[/quote]

The town of Kindersly should be most concerned after all their credibility is on the line. I am surprised that they have not yet demanded an independent audit of the Da Vinci project to see if these guys are for real.